I ...understand how a parent might hit a child- it's because you can look into their eyes and see a reflection of yourself that you wish you hadn't.

Add love, and all the lines between right and wrong were bound to disappear.

The Inuit say that the stars are holes in heaven. And every time we see the people we loved shining through, we know they're happy.

Grief is a curious thing, when it happens unexpectedly. It is a Band-Aid being ripped away, taking the top layer off a family. And the underbelly of a household is never pretty, ours no exception. There were times I stayed in my room for days on end with headphones on, if only so that I would not have to listen to my mother cry. There were the weeks that my father worked round-the-clock shifts, so that he wouldn't have to come home to a house that felt too big for us.

I have no idea what Andrew might have done, and I do not ask. She believes that I can fix this, and like always, that's enough to make me think that I can. "I'll take care of it,: I say, when what I really mean is: I'll take care of you.

If his voice hasn't been the melody of my life, it's been the bass line, so subtle you don't notice it until it's missing.

I wonder if other mothers feel a tug at their insides, watching their children grow up into the people they themselves wanted so badly to be.